SHAMMI KAPOOR DEATH ANNIVERSARY: Shammi Kapoor changed the face of Hindi films by saying "Yahoo" -- Ali Peter John

His father was the first rebel in the Kapoor family Prithviraj Kapoor! Basheshwarnath Kapoor was the head of a prominent business house in pre-partition Peshawar (now in Pakistan). Prithviraj was the eldest son. He was tall, broad, shouldered, fair and very handsome. Shammi Kapoor remembers, “He was so good-looking that every girl loved him and every father or mother wanted their daughters to marry him.”

Prithviraj was not interested in the family business. He was not a very educated person, but he loved reading Urdu plays, which made him interested in playing characters in various plays. His father refused to allow him to become an actor and wondered who planted this 'evil idea' in his mind and said "If I decide to become an actor he will starve me, my family and generations of Kapoors". Will not be able to see and there is no place on his head.

Prithviraj however ran away from home and landed in independent India. He was lucky enough to get work in some small theater groups, then joined IPTA and finally formed his own company and named it Prithvi Theatre, a platform from where dialogue between India and Pakistan, between Hindus and Muslims And messages about enmity were sent about various. Every day problems of the common man. Prithvi Theater did not charge any fee from the audience, but at the end of every show Prithviraj himself and all the cast members stood outside the theater and people put money in their bags and this was their only collection after every show.

Prithviraj, who lived in Matunga, where many of his friends from theater and films lived, had three sons, Raj, Shammi and Shashi! All of them had dropped out of school and were only interested in following in their father's footsteps. Raj was the first person to join Prithvi Theater and had to do all the work that an ordinary spot boy would do and even sweep the floor if he got a bit of a role in his father's plays. Had Raj accepted all his father's conditions and Shammi too surprised his father by saying that he wanted to become an actor no matter what. Shammi acted in a few plays staged by Prithvi and finally told his father that he wanted to go out in the world and find a place for himself!

Shammi went to the entire studio without telling anyone that he was Prithviraj Kapoor's son. Eventually, he got a leading role in a film titled 'Rail Ka Dibba' as no other actor wanted to act in the film. Shammi devoted his life to the film but when the film was released, he saw firsthand how the producers had disappeared without paying their meager fee, and Shammi was all alone like an empty train compartment (rail ka dibba). were left.

Shammi had many reasons to give up and go back to his father and say 'I have lost, forgive me', but it was that rare fire in him that did not allow him to do any such thing. The industry slowly learned that he was the son of Prithviraj Kapoor and brother of Raj Kapoor, who had already made a name for himself as an actor and a director! There were many who believed that there could be something special about this young man and signed him for a few small films which flopped miserably and Shammi was left in 'Misery Land'.

During his lean and unemployed days he thought of trying out one of his ideas which he thought might work. He decided to watch all the dances and songs of Elvis Presley and Cliff Richards, watching them dance closely, the kind of colorful clothes they wore, their hairstyles and their ways of handling the crowd. tried. The places where he performed. His efforts worked and he turned into a new Shammi Kapoor, who was first discovered by Nasir Hussain (Aamir Khan's uncle), who was impressed by his personality and hired his producer, the owner of Filmalaya Studios (Kajol's grandfather). S. Try it Mukherjee had no objection as long as his director had faith in Shammi. The result was a film called 'Tumsa Nahi Dekha' with a new actress named Ameeta. The film had some very excellent music in which Shammi danced as if his life depended on those dances. The film was a huge hit and Reuben, the leading publicist of the time, coined a phrase to describe the new Shammi. This gave him the sobriquet of 'The Rebel Star' as there were three stalwarts who reigned as stars in those days, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor!

Now Shammi had nothing to worry about as he was flooded with offers to play similar roles. There were films like 'China Town', 'Singapore', 'Bluff Master' and 'Dil Deke Dekho' which were smash hits, all in black and white but films that made such an impact. a large number of spectators. However, Shammi rose to a new height when she was roped in to play the role of Junglee in Subodh Mukherjee's film of the same name, "Junglee" as Saira Banu's heroine, a beautiful girl who had just returned from abroad. was selected. The moment he jumped on the slopes of Kashmir and sang 'Yahoo', he was the biggest entertainer of the 60s who was to rule for the next twenty years.

He was probably the only actor in the world who worked in films with negative titles like 'Junglee', 'Badtameez', 'Janwar' and 'Pagla Kahin Ka'. Although he did some great performances in films like 'Professor', 'Prince' 'Raaj Kumar', 'Pritam' and 'Sachhai'. But Shammi Kapoor's stardom reached its highest peak when he played the protagonist in Vijay Anand's 'Teesri Manzil'. Her dance moves in the film, RD Burman's music and the film's story itself made the film a cult film!

At the same time he got a chance to prove himself as an actor. He was the protagonist of Bhappi Soni's 'Brahmachari' in which he was a bachelor who took care of several orphans. He had two heroines in the film, Rajshree and Mumtaz and children who were all born actors. The film got Shammi all appreciation and his first Filmfare Award for his performance in the film. Incidentally, this film was the source of inspiration for 'Mr India', which was made with Anil Kapoor many years later!

Shammi worked with a director Shakti Samant in seven different films, 'China Town', 'Singapore', 'Kashmir Ki Kali', 'An Evening in Paris', 'Janwar', Pagla Kahin Ka and 'Jawaan Mohabbat'. Got the rare distinction of doing. , He was also the kind of actor who had no problem working with girls who were debuting with him. She was accompanied by Ameeta in 'Tumsa Nahi Dekha', Kalpana in 'Professor', Asha Parekh in 'Dil Deke Dekho', Sharmila Tagore in 'Kashmir Ki Kali' and Saira Banu in 'Junglee'.

The untimely death of his actress-wife Geeta Bali made him lose interest in life and his career. He took a break and went to the hills to find what he calls spiritual peace. When he came back after five years, he was a completely different version of the early Shammi Kapoor. He had put on a lot of weight and had lost almost all his hair and wore a garland of beads of all colors and different stones around his neck. It took a long time for him to get back to normal and return to work as an actor. He was offered several character roles with the highest price being paid to any other character actor but only accepted a few. Of all the characters he played, he remembers his role in 'Vidhata' only because he had the chance to work with the great Dilip Kumar, with whom he always dreamed of acting. The second character he loved to play was in 'Prem Rog' directed by his brother Raj Kapoor, with whom he wanted to work as a leading man at one point of time, but was not so lucky. He also remembers a film called 'Ahista Ahista', not because of the character he played but because of an incident that happened during the shooting of the film. Prince Charles came to India on his first visit and wanted to see a film studio and was taken to Rajkamal Studio. Studio owner Dr. V. Shantaram introduced all the artists to Rajkumar, but when they came to Shammi, they stopped and Rajkumar stayed with them. Dr. Shantaram said, 'This is Shammi Kapoor, he has been one of the greatest dancing stars of India, many others have tried to imitate him but none of them have been successful'. Shammi says that Dr.

Shammi was also a very shrewd businessman. He partnered with Thb Dammit, a prominent film producer, and together they owned Minerva Talkies in Bombay and Golcha in Delhi. He also tried his hand at directing films and made 'Manoranjan' based on Hollywood hits 'Irma La Douce' and 'Bandalbaaz' with Rajesh Khanna, but both the films flopped and he decided never to direct a film again. . He was the same Shammi who once guided directors like Shakti Samant, Bhappi Soni and above all Ramesh Sippy, who produced 'Sholay'. He married Princess Neela Devi of Bhavnagar as his second wife. His daughter Kanchan is married to Ketan Desai, son of his best friend late Manmohan Desai and his son Aditya started acting at the age of 50 and Shammi says,

Shammi faced some very painful times when both his kidneys failed and had to undergo dialysis four times a week but his zest for life still remains the same. He could still drive the latest Mercedes on his own and once told his nephew Ranbir Kapoor, 'Aapko marte dum tak jeena hai, zinda rehte bhi marne karne kya use? He asked. He died a few weeks later and became front-page news across the country.

His father did not want him to be named Shammi as he felt it was a name that was only suitable for women!
Shammi was a very quiet boy, but as he grew into a teenager, he became very rebellious and became a complete rebel by the age of 20!
He was never interested in studies like all his brothers but was very much interested in reading all the best books he could lay his hands on 'because books can be better companions than your wife' .

Shammi and his dance style gave a huge campus to some of the best dance directors and when he danced he didn't even need a choreographer. He invented his own dance movements. Shammi and his popular actress wife Geeta Bali had the same secretary as Mr. Surinder Kapoor, the father of Boney Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Kapoor. Mr. Kapoor often used to say, 'My family and I would not have done anything if we did not have the help of Mr. and Mrs. Shammi Kapoor, whom I consider second only to God.'

There was a time when there was talk of his marriage with Mumtaz and there was a lot of love between the two, but the entire Kapoor family was against this marriage. The only actor who gave Shammi a complex was Mehmood, the comedian, with whom he did a limited number of films because he, like other heroes, knew how Mehmood stole every scene from him. Shammi holds the record for casting Pran as the villain in more than twenty-five of his films, but they were best friends in real life.
Shammi was always the best friend of Manmohan Desai who was always very close to the Kapoor family. Their friendship ends when Shammi's daughter Kanchan marries Manmohan's son Ketan. Surprisingly, both died within a year.

He last acted in a film titled 'Patiala House'! Her doctors had also asked her not to take a flight to Delhi but she was determined to fly and participate in the shoot 'because who's guaranteed I'll get another chance like this?

Shammi is known for rescuing his heroines during tough times while shooting outside. He has also beaten up many people who have tried to harass his heroines.

He liked to be treated like a prince and whenever he went out of India he used to send messages that a former prince was coming from India and he was treated like kings, queens, presidents and prime ministers.

He was one of the first people to tell people in Bombay how important part computers were going to become in daily life. He spent many hours in front of his computer and knew everything about the latest developments in the computer world.

He had one major regret of not being able to work under the direction of his brother Raj Kapoor, which was fulfilled when Raj cast him in 'Prem Rog'. Shortly before his death last year, he told Jaya Bachchan that he was tired of living a painful life and wanted to end it all, but at the same time told her 'I have lived a life that is worth more than eighty thousand years, as if Believe it or not'.

Learn how to convert defeat into victory from this great actor.